Easy Breakfast Bread Rolls

These are our favorite breakfast bread rolls! They're soft, fluffy, and crusty, and you can make them together with your kids.

I made many bread rolls for my children during the last years. Breakfast bread rolls, dinner rolls, overnight yeast rolls, sweet cinnamon sugar rolls, kanelbullar and so on. Some were good; some were not so good. This is our favorite breakfast roll recipe.

For my son, there are no better ones. We love to make these together, all three of us; my son helps me measure the ingredients, my daughter pours the water, we knead the dough together and when the dough has risen, we form the rolls.

This is a super activity on a cold, rainy afternoon. After that, we have the bread rolls for dinner instead of breakfast and what is left over for breakfast the next day.

Ingredients

How to make yeast dough?

Use a kitchen scale, cup measuring is not reliable in baking! This breakfast roll recipe is really easy to make; you don't have to be an experienced baker to get it right.

• Dissolve the crumbled fresh yeast or the active-dry yeast in the lukewarm water. If using instant yeast, mix it with the flour, sugar, and salt.
• Mix the flour (and yeast, if instant) and salt in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients and mix with a spoon as long as necessary.
• Start kneading the bread. When the dough comes together, turn the mixture onto a floured surface and continue kneading until the dough becomes elastic and doesn't stick to your hands anymore. You will have to add a bit of flour from time to time to help you with the kneading. Do not overdo it, though; just a few sprinkles of flour when the dough becomes too sticky to knead.
• If using the stand mixer, knead using the kneading attachments.

• Step #1: Place the dough in a clean bowl and cover with a kitchen cloth.
• Step #2: Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size; it should rise for more or less one hour. But check; the rising time depends not only on the type of yeast you are using but also on the temperature in your kitchen.

How to form the bread rolls?

• Step #3: Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knead very shortly, and divide it into 8 equal pieces. Knead each piece quickly to make it smooth, then form round or elongated rolls. Place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Let rise again in a warm place, about half an hour.
• Step #4: Lightly score the rolls in the middle using a sharp knife.
• Step #5: Brush with egg wash or cornstarch wash (see below)
• You can leave the breakfast rolls plain or sprinkle them with sesame, sunflower, flaxseeds, or poppy seeds.
• Step #6: Bake them for about 20 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Check if they are done by tapping the bottom of one roll with your knuckles; it should sound hollow. Let cool on wire racks.

Make the rolls shiny

You can brush them with 1 beaten egg yolk mixed with 1 teaspoon of olive oil or with a cornstarch-water mixture. Bakers in Germany often use this mixture, which makes the rolls shiny and nice.

Easy Breakfast Bread Rolls

These are our favorite breakfast bread rolls! Soft, fluffy and crusty rolls that you could make together with your kids.

4.45 from 9 votes

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Course: Bread

Cuisine: German

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 rolls

Calories: 239kcal

Author: Adina

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Ingredients 

• ▢ 500 g all-purpose flour 1.1 lbs/ 4 ¼ cups
• ▢ 2¼ teaspoons instant dry yeast (Note 2)
• ▢ 300 ml lukewarm water 10 fl.oz/ 1 ¼ cups
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoon fine sea salt or Kosher
• ▢ ½ tablespoon honey

Cornstarch wash (Note 3):

• ▢ 75 ml water ⅓ cup
• ▢ 3 teaspoons cornstarch
• ▢ sesame seeds sunflower, pumpkin, flax or poppy seeds, optional

Instructions

Yeast dough:

• Mix the flour, instant yeast, and salt. Place the flour in a large bowl, add the lukewarm water, salt, honey, or syrup, and mix with a spoon for as long as it gets.

  500 g all-purpose flour/ 4 ¼ cups + 2¼ teaspoons instant dry yeast + 1 ½ teaspoon fine sea salt + 300 ml lukewarm water/ 1 ¼ cups + ½ tablespoon honey
• Knead: Start kneading the dough. When the dough comes together, turn the mixture onto a floured working surface and continue kneading until the dough becomes elastic and doesn't stick to your hands anymore.

  If using the stand mixer, knead using the kneading attachments until the dough is elastic and comes away from the walls of the mixer.
• Let rise: Place the dough back in the clean bowl, cover the bowl with a kitchen cloth and leave the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled in size; this will take about an hour.

Form the rolls:

• Form rolls: Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, divide it into 8 equal pieces and form the rolls. Knead one piece of dough shortly to make it smooth, form round or elongated rolls.
• Let rise: Place the rolls on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Let rest again in a warm place until nicely risen, about half an hour.
• In the meantime, preheat the oven to 400°F/ 200°C.
• Score the rolls in the middle using a sharp knife.

Cornstarch mixture:

• Place in a small pan. Bring to a boil.

  75 ml water / ⅓ cup
• In the meantime, mix cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of cold water.

  3 teaspoons cornstarch
• Whisk the cornstarch slurry into the simmering water and let it bubble briefly until it becomes syrupy and shiny; about 10-20 seconds.
• Brush the rolls with the slurry. Sprinkle with the seeds of choice, if desired.

  sesame seeds

Bake the rolls:

• Bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Check if they are done by tapping the bottom of one roll with your knuckles; it should sound hollow.
• Glaze: Once you`ve removed the baked rolls from the oven, brush them again very lightly with the cornstarch mixture, not too much, so that the rolls will be shiny but remain crusty.
• Let cool on wire racks.

Notes

1. Measurements: Use a digital kitchen scale for the best results. (the Amazon affiliate link opens in a new tab)
   
2. You can use any type of yeast: fresh, active dry yeast, or instant yeast.
   1 sachet of dry yeast weighs 7 g/ 0.24 oz/ 2 ¼ teaspoons in Germany.
   If using fresh yeast, crumble it and dissolve it in the lukewarm water.
   If using active dry yeast, proof it in lukewarm water.
   If using instant yeast, mix it with the dry ingredients before adding the wet ingredients.
3. Egg wash: You can also brush the breakfast rolls with egg wash. Mix 1 egg yolk + 2 tablespoons water + 1 teaspoon olive oil. Use to brush the rolls before you sprinkle them with the seeds.

Nutrition

Serving: 1roll | Calories: 239kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 1g | Sodium: 399mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g

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